Regardless of the renewed dispute in the federal government, the new payment card for asylum seekers is scheduled to be launched in a model project in four municipalities in Bavaria in March. “Today we awarded the contract for the payment card for asylum seekers, the tender has been completed,” said Interior State Secretary Sandro Kirchner (CSU) on Tuesday in Munich. This means that the card can be tested in the four selected pilot municipalities, the districts of Fürstenfeldbruck, Traunstein, Günzburg and the independent city of Straubing from March. “We are right on schedule.” The exact date for the introduction has not yet been set. The award was preceded by a Europe-wide tender by the Ministry of the Interior, in which the Paycenter company from Freising was reportedly able to win.
In order to be able to start the test phase quickly, the Ministry of the Interior closely involved the test municipalities and the municipal umbrella associations involved in parallel to the award process. In all other municipalities in the country, the current practice remains. Kirchner emphasized that the Bavarian payment card is very different from the Hamburg version: “The Hamburg payment card that made headlines last week is not the card we want.” This enables asylum seekers housed in shared accommodation to receive a 100% cash withdrawal.
A new dispute recently arose in the traffic light coalition over the payment card. From the perspective of the SPD and FDP, there needs to be an accompanying federal regulation. The Greens don’t think this is necessary. The state government criticized the renewed federal debates on the introduction of the payment card. State Chancellor Florian Herrmann (CSU) emphasized that from a Bavarian perspective the legal framework was sufficient. Kirchner also criticized the traffic light government, which was unable to change the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act to allow for the nationwide introduction of a restrictive payment card due to resistance from the Greens. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) made the promise to do this in November 2023 at the Prime Minister’s Conference.
At the end of January, 14 of 16 federal states agreed on a joint procurement process to introduce a payment card for asylum seekers, which should be completed by the summer. Among other things, the card is intended to prevent migrants from transferring money to smugglers or to their family or friends abroad.